UK packet postage help

[zed]

Do any of our UKers post packets from the UK?

I was trying to work out postage costs for etsy, and the Royal Mail recently changes their prices
c435158.r58.cf3.rackcdn.com/pricing_made_easy.pdf

I kept thinking I was doing it wrong, for a 120g package to Europe it's £1.61, to the UK it's £1.96

I went to the PO today and had a 120g package and asked if he'd check for me how much it'd be to the UK and he said £1.96.

I don't get it??!

I'd try to be smart and send it airmail, but you know they'd just slap the extra on and charge the person who gets it and probably an extra fee too.

Does anyone send packages in the UK and know how it can be done cheaper?
It seems like there should be an inbetween level, not one price for 120 to 250g.

[gina]

I had no idea that the PO had changed the prices, but I tend to use their suggestions and a bit for the packaging which you may or may not want to do, depending on if you plan to reuse/recycle packets that come to you.

I started out with a leaflet that I got from a post office (I asked at the counter) which gave prices to a few different areas of the world and then expanded on that for other countries by using their website.

[zed]

Thanks. Yeah, I was fine with working it all out, just couldn't work out why it's more to post to someone a few miles away than it is to someone in Portugal for example.

[gina]

I've never noticed that. ) I must have been working from an old leaflet, where it wasn't. ) Don't forget that you can also use second class, here, although it's rarely enough of a difference to justify the extra days that they can tag on.

[zed]

Yeah, it's £1.72 for second, still more exensive than Europe. The band of over 100 to 250g seems too wide. Oh well.

[Shepherdess]

We have that too but we also have to be able to fit it through a slot or it becomes a parcel. the price jumps for that. Ours is done on distance mostly. Its a big place so I can send to lots places in the USA for less than Canada NY city is a little over 400 miles as the crow flies but Vancouver is almost 3000 miles.

[gina]

It's a crazy system, Zed. I wonder if we're paying because the RM do all the work within the UK (and have to do it in fewer days) but they get rid to another postal service if it goes overseas. And to think I never noticed the difference in prices.

[zed]

Yeah, could be, Gina. I hope you're not out of pocket!
We have that too, Ann, they have plastic measuring things with slots at the post office.